Gold is a bright yellow dense, soft, malleable and ductile metal. The properties remain when exposed to air or water. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements, and is solid under standard conditions. The metal occurs often in free elemental (native) form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as electrum) and also naturally alloyed with copper and palladium.